Safety gun lock



June 1, 1954 v c. E. WINDLE SAFETY GUN LOCK Filed June 4, 1949 nti/1m 2 2 2 II II I i AM a I I g "a 3 f .3: win/2 or Patented June 1, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SAFETY GUN LOCK Chester E. Windle, Seattle, Wash.

Application June 4, 1949, Serial No. 97,135

This invention relates to firearms, and especially pertains to a safety lock therefor preventing inadvertent firing of a loaded gun should the hammer-releasing trigger be activated accidentally.

It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a device for this purpose pecularized in its provision of a perfected releasing control arranged and adapted to be operated by a finger of the trigger hand other than the trigger finger, and which must, in order to free the hammer, be activated either in concert with or prior to the activation of the trigger, and which is further characterized in that its construction and mounting gives unusual freedom to the gunner in the sense that activating pressure, which is in the nature of a squeeze, exerted by the gunner to effectuate a release may be applied substantially at any point within a relatively extended longitudinal span.

A further and particular object is to devise a control so constructed and mounted that the movement necessary to effectuate a release of the safety lock is substantially uniform irrespective of the point at which squeezing pressure is applied.

The invention has the yet further object of providing a safety device the movable components of which introduce a minimum of friction in their operation and hence require a modicum of pressure to accomplish a release of the safety lock.

As further objects still, the invention aims to provide a safety device having a minimum of parts, one which may be inexpensively produced, and which admits of being easily and quickly applied to substantially any conventional design of gun with no need for any alteration whatsoever in the working parts of the latter.

With the foregoing and yet additional objects and advantages in view and which will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view, partly in top plan and partly in horizontal section, portraying a gun equipped with a safety device constructed in accordance with the now preferred embodiment of the present invention, the stock of the gun being deleted and the section line being indicated at l-| of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof; and

5 Claims. (Cl. 42-70) Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The device of the present invention may be advantageously applied to substantially any type of firearm embodying a breech, and for purposes of illustration I have elected to portray a singlebarreled shotgun, designating the barrel, receiver, hammer and trigger thereof by the numerals H), II, l2, and 13, respectively. The stock is not illustrated but customarily is bifurcated at its forward end to produce a-socket into which is fitted a tongue [4 extending rearwardly as a reduced integral prolongation of the receiver. Provided within the receiver to house the interacting inner ends of the hammer and the trigger is a chamber, such chamber being open to the top and bottom for the protrusion therethrough of the finger-actuated parts of these elements. The chamber customarily extends rearwardly to very nearly the rear limit of the tongue l4, and the terminal pocket 15 thereof which lies within the tongue is open to both sides, these side openings being normally closed by the applied stock.

In order to adapt a gun of the described character to the use of the present invention it is necessary only that two added openings be provided in the receiver, each being in the nature of a slot with one said slot, designated by 20, lying toward the front end of the receiver and being cut through either of the two cheek walls thereof to lie proximate to and more or less parallel to the upper edge, and the other said slot, designated by 2|, communicating with the pocket l5 through the bottom wall of the tongue section and lying in rearwardly spaced relation from the guns trigger-guard 1B. The former said slot, and namely the slot which occurs in the cheek wall of the receiver, is made rather long and comprehends very nearly the full length of the cheek.

According to the present invention, and for the purpose of giving thickened substance to the slotted cheek along the bottom edge of the slot, 9. block 22 is secured by screws or the like 23 to the inner wall of the cheek, and fulcrumed to this block adjacent the front end thereof is a lever-catch, this lever being of the first order in that the fulcrum pin, designated by 24, is located intermediate the ends. A sear-spring 25, taking a purchase against an ear 2!; formed on the block, bears by its other end against one arm 21 of the lever-catch and operates to yieldingly urge the other arm 28 into an interruptive position within the path of travel of the hammer l2 3 as the latter moves forwardly toward the striking pin I! of the gun.

It is the end edge of the lever arm 28 which performs an interrupting oifice barring forward travel of the hammer head, and the lever arm is so formed that this end edge, or such portion thereof as serves to interrupt the hammer, is caused to lie normal or approximately normal to the hammers travel path. Also contained within this end edge and removed laterally from-the hammer-interrupting portion is a re-entrant socket 30 of semi-circular shape. There is provided a system of links for giving pivotal motion "will be particularly noted that the curved front to the lever-catch in a direction counters to-..the

thrust of the sear-spring, or which is to say in such a direction as will withdraw the arm- 28 from the travel path of the hammer, and. contained in this system are two bell-cranks 3 f and end-lot the lock-releasing plate tends to ride along the back face of the trigger guard and effectively precludes any liability of the floating 32 connected by a draw-bar 33. Fulcrumed, asatz 34, to the block 22, the bel1-crank 3| pivots about a vertical axis, finds a mating fitv by the extremity of one of its crank arms in the end socket of the lever-catch. Such bellcrank iS- SO mounted as, by, preference, to have-said armnormally establish .an in line relationship with a radius of the catch traversing the center line of the socket, anda stop-shoulder35 formed upon the catch operates to preclude inwardly directed movement of thecatch beyondthis in-line posietion. The other arm. of; the bell-crank 3! extends outwardly from-the pivqt, and attaches by a pin 36 to the forward end of the drawrbar 33. The draw-bar anglesinwardly fr n its saidfront end connectionto enable thesame to clear the rear wall of theslot 2 0, and thence extends parallel with the median line of the chamber into the open-sided pocket-which occurs within the tongue prolongation of the receiver, partaking of a quarter-twist. within its length. to, have the plane of the rear end lie perpendicular to the pocket.

The other of. the two;hell-cranks 32, one of whose arms connects by a pin 3 1.- withsaidrear end of the draw-bar, occupies. a, Position-.W the pocket I5 and is s'upportectfor rocker move-. ment about a. horizontal axis, the ful crum pin .38 therefor receiving its support. from a, pendant hanger 40, To mount this hanger, the same has its upper end set into a face notch cut in; aside edge of the pocketstop wall and. is fixedly see cured by a screw 4t, Such bell-cranks other arm is pivotally connected, as at,42, to the up standing leg 43 of a floating block. 44 loosely received for bodily. vertical movementthroughthe. receiver slot 2|. The block presents a head flange 45 which normally foots upon the floor of the pocket and, when so normalized, projects by its lower end below the receiver, there being securedto the exposed bottomface of, this block. a plate 46 arranged and adapted to be. engaged by the third or middle finger of the operators hand coincident with engagement of the trigger by. the index finger. The plates front end. flextends into approximate touching engagement with the trigger guard and is given a curvature substantially corresponding to the .curvature which obtains at the rear end of theguard.

In using a gun equipped with the present. safety lock, firingis accomplished in the usual manner excepting that. itbecomes necessary for the gunner to tighten histhird finger upon the plate 46 before pulling the trigger, the hammer otherwise being limited in its forward travel to a degree of movement less than full stroke, and which is to say until the hammer brings up against the catch and which is located, by'prefblock being subject to any bind within its receiving slot, the provision for a relatively free-floating bodily vertical movement of the block, and as distinguished from prior safety-lock devices whose controllingfinger-pieces are either pivotally mounted or guidably received in a closefittingv slide, being especially advantageous for two reasons, (1) this arrangement permits the employment of an unusually long finger-piece to liability of the finger slipping off the same and atthe same time admits of being operated by pressure applied at substantially any point within its length, and (2) this arrangement calls for much the same degree of movement for catch-retracting operation of the finger-piece irrespective of. the point at which pressure is applied. The simplicity of, the connecting linkageby which operating movement is transferred from the finger-actuated control to the catch, and the manner in which this and associated parts are engineered to enable the same to be worked into an ordinary gun with no necessity for any change in the construction of the latter, will be clearly apparent.

A feature of some importance is that the spring-loadedhammer, shouldit be released by accidental operation of the trigger and responsively move into half-cock. position against the abutment. faceof the catch, operates when in such position to substantially lock the catch against retraction in that the inner'shoulder of the catch must move in its retraction through an arcuate path which the presence of the ham mer, bearing thereagainst, precludes. The significance of this arrangement is that a dropped gun, should it first engage a twig or the like and cause the trigger to be released and then have the control platev strike against some object, would still not be fired.

It is thought that the invention will have been well understood from the foregoing description of my now preferred illustrated embodiment. Minor changes in the structural details will appear to thoseversed in the art and may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, wherefor it is my. intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims. be given a scope fully commensurate with the broadest interpretation to which the employed langauge fairly admits.

What I claim is:

1'. In combination with thehammer, trigger, trigger guard, andreceiver of a firearm, the chamber of the receiver providing connecting front and rear pocketsandbeing charactemzerl in that the bottom wall of the rear pocket presents alongitudinal slot lying to the rearof thev trigger guard, a lever-catch. fulcrumed to-the receiver;

to occupy a position-within the front pocket and movable about a vertical axis into and out of an interruptive position within the firing travel path of the forward. edge of the hammer, a spring normally urging the catch into its said interruptive position, a block received for bodily vertical movement in said bottom-wall slot and arranged and adapted to be lifted by pressure of a finger of the gunners trigger hand other than the trigger finger, and means operatively interconnecting said block with the lever and by lift movement of the block working counter to the spring to retract the catch out of the hammers travel path, said rear pocket of the receiver occurring as an open-sided cavity within a tongue which extends rearwardly as a reduced prolongation of the receiver, the tongue being adapted to fit within the forked front end of a gun-stock.

2. In combination with the hammer, trigger, trigger guard, and receiver of a firearm, the chamber of the receiver providing connecting front and rear pockets and being characterized in that the bottom wall of the rear pocket presents a longitudinal slot lying in rearwardly removed relation beyond the trigger guard, a lever-catch fulcrumed to the receiver to occupy a position within the front pocket and movable into and out of an interruptive position within the firing travel path of the hammer, a spring normally urging the catch into its said interruptive position, a floating block loosely received for guided bodily vertical movement in said bottom-wall slot and arranged and adapted to be lifted by pressure of a finger of the gunners trigger hand other than the trigger finger, and means operatively interconnecting said block with the lever and by lift movement of the block working counter to the spring to retract the catch out of the hammer's travel path, the block having a comparatively long finger-engaging plate secured to the underside thereof and projecting forwardly therefrom into approximate touching relation to the trigger guard with the front end of said plate being given a downward curvature, said plate being caused in consequence of the guided bodily vertical movement of the block to itself move bodily so that the vertical travel at any one point within its length substantially corresponds in point of magnitude to the vertical travel at any other point within the length.

3. In combination with the hammer, trigger, trigger guard, and receiver of a firearm, the chamber of the receiver providing connecting front and rear pockets and having a check wall of the front pocket and the bottom wall of the rear pocket each longitudinally slotted, said bottomwall slot lying to the rear of the trigger guard, a catch comprised of a lever of the first order working in the cheeck-wall slot and supported to rock about a vertical axis into and from a position whereat an end edge of one arm serves as an abutment interrupting firing travel of the hammer, a spring acting upon the other arm of said catch to normally urge the abutment edge into its hammer-interrupting position, bell-cranks one disposed within the cheek-wall slot and mounted to rock about a vertical axis and the other disposed Within the rear pocket and mounted to rock about a horizontal axis, the former said bell-crank lying to the rear of the catch and engagingby one of its arms with the catch, a drawbar connecting the other arm of the catchengaging bell-crank to one arm of the second mentioned bell-crank, and a floating block loosely received for bodily vertical movement in said bottom-wall slot and pivotally connected to the other arm of the second mentioned bell-crank, said block being arranged and adapted to be lifted by pressure of a finger of the gunners trigger hand other than the trigger finger and by such lift movement operating through the bellcranks and the connecting draw-bar to responsively retract the catch out of the travel path of the hammer.

4. Structure according to claim 3 in which the rear pocket occurs as an open-sided cavity within a tongue extending rearwardly as a reduced prolongation of the breech, and which said tongue is adapted to fit within the forked front end of a gun-stock, and wherein the fulcrum for the second mentioned bell-crank is carried by a pendant hanger having its upper end set into a face notch cut in a side edge of the tongues topwall section.

5. Structure according to claim 1 in which the spring acts directly upon the catch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,484,928 Boone Oct. 18, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 759,409 France Nov. 16, 1933 

